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Sean O'Shea, 71, of Wilsford Close in Lower Earley, was leaving Calcot Park Golf Club at about 9am when an oak crashed onto his Volvo.

Mr O'Shea, a retired hotelier, had to climb into the back seat of his car and wait for help.

He said: "I went up there to play a match, but it was called off due to the weather.

"I was driving home at about 9am, just passing the clubhouse, when the tree smashed into the front windscreen — and I was behind it!

"It was a pretty frightening experience — I couldn't get out because the doors were jammed.

"The club members were very good and I wasn't waiting long to be rescued because there were a lot of them about to help get me out.

"The car is a complete write-off but it's only a car — I had a bit of whiplash but I walked out alive."

Warnings issued last week by the Met Office came true as winds of more than 80 mph hit parts of England and Wales — the biggest storm in terms of wind speed since October 2000.

Wind-felled trees brought traffic to a standstill across Wokingham, with storm damage affecting Finchampstead Road, near The Two Poplars pub; Wiltshire Road and Bean Oak Road.

And Wokingham firefighters were called to a home in Brookside to re-fit a wind-thrashed loose roof aerial.

Firefighter Chris Davidson said: "Because of high winds, the aerial became unsafe and came off.

"The homeowner was an auxiliary firefighter in the war so we put the aerial back up and made sure she had a good picture!"

Times weatherman Bernard Burton said: "For Sunday's storm, the highest gust I recorded on the anenometer was 61 mph at Emmbrook School.

"This is the second highest for October since the ‘big' storm of 1987, and on October 30, 2000, we had a gust of 66 mph.

"But when I cycled around the area on Monday, and out to Hurst, I didn't see as much tree damage.

"Wind storms like this are by no means uncommon in the autumn and winter in the UK."

The high winds also caused railway chaos as many services were cancelled or delayed on Sunday.

A South West Trains spokesman said on Monday: "We had to suspend all our services between 10am and 3pm because of safety reasons — we have to think about the safety risks to the passenger.

"There have been knock-on effects on Monday — delays of about 30 minutes — but we are trying to turn it around in time for the evening peak, by running services faster where possible and skipping out stations where we can."

And in Bracknell, toppled trees — including those in Great Hollands and Winkfield Row — blocked roads.

Police say there were no fatalities as a result of the weekend's storms in the Reading with Wokingham area.

But across the UK, six people were killed by falling trees and an angler died after he was washed out to sea.

Ewen McCallum, the Bracknell-based Met Office's forecasting director, added: "This was a powerful autumn storm which was predicted many days in advance.

"Although there will be more rain at times this week, it won't be anywhere near as windy."

l In terms of wind speed, this was the biggest storm since late October 2000, when the Isle of Wight recorded 100 mph winds, and 90 mph winds affected coastal parts of south-west England and south Wales.

On this occasion, winds of 96 mph was recorded on Sunday at Mumbles near Swansea and many areas saw gusts of 60 to 80 mph.